Posted:16th Apr 2002One thing I've noticed everywhere I go is that different people dance in different styles. This is true with poi as well as normal dancing (no props).

People who're into poi seem to have heard of 'liquid dancing', but very few here in London have ever seen it in real life.

In Toronto, there are several dancing styles that people use.. The 'bunny hop', 'kick step','liquid', 'quickstep' and in most cases they differ in style from person to person.

In London, and all over europe (from my observation) they don't have so many people that are *trying* to dance. They just dance.. In whatever way feels best. So I think most people end up dancing in a very conformist way. (one foot always on the ground, arms waving to the music. stomp one foot a random amount, then stomp the other foor a random amount.. always use the heel)

The only people who I see *trying* is women who are trying to dance sexy, and people into hip hop who're trying to dance like the people in the videos. (mental note to people who do that, those moves are meant for choreographed dances with 4 girls in bikinis and one rapper with his/her shirt open. It doesn't look as good with just 1 person)

There are WAAAAAY too many north americans who I hear telling me that Europeans "don't dance". Which I can understand most europeans finding offensive. I've said to people from Canada and the US.. DANCING IS RYTHMIC MOVEMENT!!!!http://www.dictionary.com/search?q=dancingbr>I've also noted one more that I want to ask the Aussies about. I saw it the first time in London, the girl was dancing on her toes like an american, but she would pivot and switch between her toes and heels and strange angles. I saw it a few other times and every time I saw it I would ask them where they're from. Australia, every time... At first I thought it was australian, but then I noticed that all the people I talk to are from Melbourne in particular.

I really dug this dance, its got a lot of funk in it, and I found myself imitating it a lot. One nite I went out partying with some aussie friends of mine, from melbourne in fact, and both of them noticed the way I was dancing. One of them actually said I dance like an aussie.

He described it as the "Melbourne Shuffle". The girl said she had been in london for so long that she's lost her funk and hadn't danced with her feet leaving the ground in ages.

^^^ Okay, way to babble on about bullsh*t when I should be working!! When the cats away the mice will play!

Wanna know though, has anyone else noticed this stuff? Can anyone think of other parts of the world where people dance with footwork? Liquid dancing?

Posted:17th Apr 2002worship me. i don't know crap about all the kinds of liquid or breakdancing or what they are or anything, but some of my style is taichi and watery movements based, and i've been told that what i do would be considered liquid. i just dance and something comes out, tho, so it's not exactly conventional. are you cute, slave?

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.

Yep - know it well - characterises the Melbourne rave scene til about 1996 I reckon. here in SA some ppl try to emulate it (Melbourne being the closest 'BigCool' city to us) but you can usually tell the kids that come from Melbourne. Rock solid. They used to use a lot of Talcum powder to get the movements really smooth, looked like they were on ice - talk about cool (AHAH! I crack me up...its a joke son...no matter).

You should see these kids doing it at a bush doof! They certainly kick up the dust!...I like it...but I cant do it (at least, I cant even try to do it anymore )...

FWIW, I reckon ppl that just let themselves go and flow with the music, rather than try to do specific moves are far less conformist than those who limit themselves to a certain group of allowed moves. I dont think I've seen many dancers who I actually thought looked good doing that - the best ones IMHO are those who just go off...(and are very coordinated too)

Posted:17th Apr 2002man, whatever, i seen that lockin video you had on there. i made that shit up! that shit looks just like my dancin, dem foos been stealin my moves and i ain't never even seen no break dancin competition. you better get on yo knees, foo, cause i'm the shit and my liquid is the shit! and i do it while i'm fire dancin! hiiiyaaaa! seriously, though, how many ways to move 4 limbs can there be? theres gonna be overlap. the moves i do are much the same.so i don't call it liquid or have on baggy pants. baggy pants get in the way of under the leg moves! your god has spoken and you have no faith!

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.

-Such a price the gods exact for song: to become what we sing-Seek freedom and become captive of your desires. Seek discipline and find your liberty.-When the center of the storm does not move, you are in its path.

Posted:18th Apr 2002WEll Phunk (you will always be Phunk to me), everyone was being so well behaved, my input hasnt been as neccessary of late. Everyone has been helping out the newbies and everything! I've been so proud!

Posted:18th Apr 2002Hmm wow! Didn't know moving ones spirit to music could be disected into so many pigeon holes!Anyroad thanks for the education and next time i close my eyes and let the music take over my soul I'll be sure to remember if I'm 'catching a butterfly', 'buttering toast', or 'weaving a web out of fresh pickles'...

I'm out of my mind...but you can leave a message

If you remain calm while all around you is collapsing...possibly you are missing something

Posted:18th Apr 2002Pele, Yes, definitely answers my question. And gives me a little more food for thought. I never really considered that current dance moves can be compared to old dance moves. Wonder why nobody's combined the tango with liquid

but regarding dancing and spinning i got terrible pissed last week and ended up cracking out my irish dance hard shoes (under 20 champion i'll let you know!) and danced while spinning. Was the FUNNIEST thing but was strangly nice. The tap sound flowed into and contrasted with the burn noise and slamtapping during a burn off gave me a huge adrenalin kick.

Posted:21st Apr 2002All this talk of different Dance technic and genre in dancing was all very interesting but it gave me a headache.. sounds like a lot of effort for an explaination of something(dance) that is totally inspired and not defined...

Sure you can learn a move off someone else, but ti's all about throwing yourself into the music and losing yourself... i know that's what Poi is for me.

Also on Aussie 'stanley dances' the rest of the world is missing out.having a few laughs to break the ice over some silly dances mad up under the influence is great!

and if anyone was really interested, the shopping trolley, the lawn-mower.. etc, i believe they all stemmed from the conga-line thing. basically, you line up and imitate everyday experiences while dancing... oh and alcamahol intoxication helps.

lastly, tall people CAN dance i think tall people just stand out more, so if they CAN'T everyone notices. But one of my best mates is tall and he dances as graceful as anything... oh and he's the mostest awesomest poi-er i've ever seen.

Posted:22nd Apr 2002oooooooo! whoever suggested frisbee-throwing and road-rage dances, thats a good idea. id forgotton digging a hole too, probably coz the movements are so similar to the lawn-mower (has anyone noticed that i have a passion for these silly-dances?)

meanwhile, i danced my little arse off last night for the first time in a while: waltzing, disco-dancing, limboing, 'regular' club dancing, pornstar dancing. i had fun

Posted:24th Apr 2002the central focus of my life is being wacky at raves (esp bushdoof) and firetwirling - (in fact they're the only forums i read since i quit counterstrike!) so it makes me explosively glas about the supernova of a rave scene in melb!! there are soo many club nights and soo many raves that its mega easy for say a goth to go to a primus moshpit on a sheep farm near Torquay! its soo grouse - like every dancefloor/paddock i go to you see cross-pollination happen! at earthcore bushdoof you see the Hard NRG dancers you were drooling with in front of Scot Project mellow out in the Psy dancefloor 200m down the hill! it helps that the promoters in melbourne are on overdrive! i think the melbourne shuffle(?) is one view of a many faceted diamond (fear the geometry reference!) ravers from overseas always complain about how their scene sux when compared! Now we're staring to see Mt Fuji style festivals where artists from different Genres are performing at the same festivals (Offshore: Tool-Sonic Animation! Falls:Blondie-Groove Terminator! BigDayOut: Korn-KylieMinogue-Prodigy-MariylnManson!) Last week was fragma, LAMB!, HENNES & COLD and next week we have faithless, tool, dave seamen (giggle), Marco Bailey, benfolds five, deep purple, the melvins and the Warp brothers! *gasp* all this musical incest really powers the dance scene incredibly - so im not sure what this singular 'melbourne' shuffle is all aboot! this is where my true partriotism belongs - the constant opportunity to meet music lovers of all kinds alla time. If only more girls here listened to Jungle... ahh well

Posted:24th Apr 2002quote:tjoni I couldn't agree more with you. It may sound stupid, but dancing for me is more of a 'spiritual' pursuit.Dancing is a sprititual pursuit for me as well. If you think you can only reach a spiritual climax to the music by dancin in 1 way though, its probably cause you haven't tried to dance in another way... Learning a new dance move is like learning a new poi move, it takes a little practice and some good music for you to lose yourself to the movement.

Posted:24th Apr 2002Bender,Shuffle was just something someone told me it was called. Every dance style is expressed differently with every person so giving a style a name is very inadequate in most cases.

Unless you start having competitions or something, and you have some judge telling you how you should look when you dance.

Posted:25th Apr 2002quote:Originally posted by SmokyBowl:[Learning a new dance move is like learning a new poi move, it takes a little practice and some good music for you to lose yourself to the movement.[/QB]I didn't think there were rules for this

I use dance for pathworking, visionquests and astral projection. The reason that I dont know how I dance is that I'm ussually not aware of my body, (and its not because I'm Foxtrot uniform on drugs). I belive that its more of an individual thing. what works for some doesn't work for others. Everybodies perceptions are different. I open the door, change my state of consciousness and my body just seems to follow. I think if the dance I do was catagorized it'd be called the 'tribal stomp' or the 'tribal shuffle' Now if I can only find a load of mud, a lincloth, and a spear I'd be well away.

Posted:29th May 2002quote:Originally posted by SmokyBowl:I saw it the first time in London, the girl was dancing on her toes like an american, but she would pivot and switch between her toes and heels and strange angles. I saw it a few other times and every time I saw it I would ask them where they're from. Australia, every time... At first I thought it was australian, but then I noticed that all the people I talk to are from Melbourne in particular.

I really dug this dance, its got a lot of funk in it, and I found myself imitating it a lot. One nite I went out partying with some aussie friends of mine, from melbourne in fact, and both of them noticed the way I was dancing. One of them actually said I dance like an aussie.

He described it as the "Melbourne Shuffle". The girl said she had been in london for so long that she's lost her funk and hadn't danced with her feet leaving the ground in ages.strap on ya glad rags and prepare 2 boogiem, 4 it has now taken on farcical levels... quote:We've all heard the term "Melbourne Shuffle"

It's the dance style which us Melbourne folk have perfected like no other city in the world. We talk about it, we joke about it, we strut our stuff at clubs and parties around Melbourne, and around the world when we're out and about. Well the time has come to stand up and be counted.

On Saturday afternoon June 1 at 2:00pm, Melbourne's best dancers will come together at Dream nightclub to show everyone what they're made of. The soundtrack will be provided by two of Melbourne's leading DJs, Ben Kakoschke with his hot hard house, and Ben Cromack with his slammin' techno. MCs for the afternoon will be Mr Steve Douglas and djned, and proponents of the Melbourne Shuffle from all camps will be joining together to rock the house. And like the best things in life, this event is free!

If you want to come down and shake your thang, or just watch the melee, register now and your name will go in the running for a full Ecko outfit valued at $400 and there'll be plenty of other giveaways on the day too!

REGISTER NOWA GATHERING FOR THE MELBOURNE SHUFFLE

The bar at Dream will be open and there will be plenty of free talc and Ecko giveaways. So put on your dancin' shoes, get down to Dream, and get ready to 'shake whatcha mamma gave ya!'heh ehh i said stap on